This applies to lawnmowers and snowblowers as well as motorcycles... I do not understand where the electricity comes from to fire the ignition in a vehicle with no battery.
I just picked up a not-running '84 XL600R that is, as it was explained to me, "wired for no battery." So I imagine somehow I am generating the electricity with my leg when I hit the kickstarter, but please explain it to me.
your making it with the kick, by turning a permanent magnet in the rotor attached to the crank. inducing a current in to a wound coil. AKA Magneto
Small engines (B&S, etc.): A magnet on the flywheel spins by a coil, which generates electricity and fires the spark plug.
Vehicles that had a battery but have been modified: The standard electrical system is usually still present. That is, the alternator or generator. Your kicking the motor over does the same thing: Magnet spins by a coil, generating electricity. However, in this case, low voltage (~12V) is generated which then usually charges up a capacitor in place of the battery, which also charges up the ignition coil until the points are opened, at which point the magnetic field collapses on the coil sending a high voltage pulse to the spark plug.
Is there spark?
What did you pay for it? I have been hunting for a titled project XL600 for months.
Aah, ok, I guess I sort of thought it was something sort of like that but I just couldn't piece together how it worked. Gotta learn sometime, though. :)
I paid $500 for it, title and all.
I have not yet checked for spark. I am 12 kicks in and then I had other stuff to do. :) I will report back with more over the weekend.
Papa Doc's rule of biker etiquette: At gas/beer stops, kick start only bikes have to start their bikes first.
It does have spark. It does not start. The carbs are getting gas in them, anyway. I feel compression in the kick.
XR have a trick to starting them. They also have auto compression releases that need adjusting. But they can be a bitch to start hot or cold.
My XR250 is that way, there is a very critical way to do the start procedure when cold and I still have issues with getting it to fire. I need to keep playing with the jetting. I did find that turning the idle up real high when cold and then backing it down when warm works well. The bike runs great when hot, so I am hesitant to richen it up any more.
If you get discouraged, I will take it off your hands 
I have tried a bunch of stuff. The carb is actually leaking fuel down the bottom, like a little vertical tube. I tried starting fluid sprayed into the carb, and I pulled the spark plug and misted a little starter fluid right into the cylinder, doesn't seem like a hint of combustion.
I spark tester lights up when I kick, so spark is going somewhere...
First, I would put a new spark plug in. You said it had compression, the trick is to slowly kick until you feel solid resistance, then move the kicker jus a hair - like 5 degrees of rotation. Then kick it like you mean it while not touching the throttle. It should have compression that makes you think it is locked up. If not, then the compression release is not adjusted or a valve is not adjusted and hanging open.
Not sure if it is possable to have the timing off unless the timing chain jumped a tooth.
I did put a new spark plug in.
Compression that makes me think it's locked up. Ok, it definitely doesn't have that. I guess I will need to buy a compression tester and learn how to do a compression test.
I don't know where the compression release is. I have a copy of the service manual and I haven't seen anything in there about the compression release. I also don't know how to check the timing. In a car project that I have gotten this far into, taken stuff apart, found PO hacks and splices and not knowing what's going on, this is the point where I would ditch the project and just buy a vehicle that runs.
Update: I pulled the carbs off. It was a little gunky and the left one, the main one, was leaking. I ordered new gaskets to ease putting them all back together. Now I am waiting on parts!
Next, I am going to check the valve adjustments, then the timing. It still has not yet come back to life.
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